Archive for category technology

– The Apple Macbook Pro Laptops received its latest update to its lineup Thursday. The new Macbooks will include the Intel Thunderbolt I/O technology which boasts a maximum speed of 10 Gigabits per second per channel with compatible devices. This is twice the maximum speed of USB 3.0 and more than 3 times the speed of eSATA.

Among other things, the Apple Macbook Pro Laptops will bring high performance graphics and Face Time HD camera to the user experience. The Face Time HD camera has 3 times better resolution than the older version and will allow users to make widescreen video calls.

– The National Telecommunications and Information Administration will release The National Broadband map today. The map cost $200 million to build, and data from more than 25 million records was compiled to create it. It shows consumers what types of broadband are available across the country, the companies that provide the services, and the maximum advertised speeds. The map will be free to everyone. Users will be able to filter the information by region, including state, city, county, block, or street address.

The map can be found at Broadbandmap.gov, but it also downloadable. Data used in the map will be updated twice per year.

Planning to move? You can input your address and compare it with other addresses to see how they stack up. With the open APIs, you can even build smartphone apps that do this for you.

The Chairman of the FCC, Julius Genachowski, said in a statement this morning, “This cutting-edge tool will continue to evolve with the help of new data and user feedback. It will provide consumers, companies and policymakers with a wealth of information about broadband availability, speeds, competition and technology, and help Americans make better informed choices about their broadband services.”

– An official report from the Broadcasting Board of Governors shows that the United States Government has been able beat internet censorship tools in China to deliver emails containing news and other vital information. The report has been made public by a nonprofit company, GovernmentAttic, who used the Freedom of Information Act to request it. It contains details on testing done last year that successfully got data into inboxes in China and Hong Kong using Feed Over E-mail, or FOE.

FOE is technology that goes around walls and traps set by the Chinese government to block unwanted Internet content. The tests cited in the report show that FOE can be used to send everything from downloadable files to RSS feeds to proxy web addresses which can be used to access an uncensored version of the Internet.

The IT specialist who designed FOE, Sho Ho, says the technology works by compressing data that is sent so that it speeds past the censors undetected, and then is decoded for recipients to use it.

Google is now bringing art to your computer. They have partnered with museums and galleries globally to develop Google Art Project. Users are able to tour almost 400 rooms in 17 institutions, much like Google Maps offers a Street View.

The project involved taking super-high resolution pictures of artwork, each with approximately seven billion pixels, and collating more than a thousand of these images to form the virtual tours. Users are able to create their own collections, saving specific views of the pieces, and can zoom in to see even the smallest details in the art. Almost 500 artists are available.

The head of Google Art Project, Amit Sood, said, “This initiative started as a ’20 percent project’ by a group of Googlers passionate about making art more accessible online. Together with our museum partners around the world we have created what we hope will be a fascinating resource for art-lovers, students and casual museum goers alike – inspiring them to one day visit the real thing.”

It is becoming more urgent to upgrade to IPv6 compatible hardware before IPv4 addresses run dry.

– The last 5 blocks of IPv4 addresses were requested this February 1st by the Asia Pacific Region organization called Asia Pacific Network Information Centre (APNic) . This validates expert predictions that the supply would run out around 2011 and 2012.

The internet is still expanding at a rapid pace and the last of the IP addresses are expected to be allocated by September 2011. There are over four billion unique addresses available under the IPv4. After the last IPv4 pool of IP addresess are exhausted, the Internet will still continue to work, but new servers and devices will need to turn to an alternative scheme called Internet Protocol version 6 (IPv6).

IPv6 allows for over 340 trillion, trillion, trillion unique IP addresses which will provide an almost endless supply. However, not many devices have been converted to use IPv6. Also devices connected on the IPv6 network cannot communicate directly with the IPv4 network. Hardware, software, and services need to be IPv6 compatible.

The new U.S. patent will cover the utilization of Biolase lasers to treat farsightedness.

– Biolase Technology has secured a new U.S. patent that will cover the utilization of its lasers to treat farsightedness. The med tech company’s laser-tunneling method mitigates the effects of presbyopia, and thus allows the eye to refocus at a close distance without sacrificing focus on objects in the distance.

Biolase currently has 7 issued patents and 20 pending international and U.S. patents in the field of ophthalmology. The company is best known for its laser systems used in a range of dental procedures.

Chairman and CEO Federica Pignatelli said “Our laser technologies have broad applications within dentistry and other medical fields such as ophthalmology. This strong patent position in combination with our already FDA-cleared general indications for using our lasers with ocular tissue and the tissue surrounding the eye and orbit makes us an attractive partner for an ophthalmic company who needs the IP, innovative technology and expertise necessary to enter the biggest potential market in ophthalmology.”

– Engadget reported today that AT&T will begin sending coupons that can be redeemed for free Microcells to approximately 7.5% of its mobile customers. The 3G Microcell is an indoor base station designed to improve signals in homes. AT&T is mailing the coupons to subscribers who live in areas where coverage is low.

The Microcell, which is AT&T’s version of a femtocell, uses local broadband signals to reduce the strain on a carrier’s cell towers and backhaul lines. This improves the user’s experience.

A spokesman for AT&T, Mark Siegel, did not comment on this offer, but did say that in the past the company has experimented with offering free devices. Last April AT&T stated it would begin offering the Microcell after trials in selected states. The Microcell is priced at $149.99, and AT&T offered a $100 mail-in rebate along with an additional $50 mail-in rebate if customers signed up for a 1 year DSL plan.

The Microcell is only for AT&T customers in areas that have very weak indoor signals. “It is a product with a very narrowly defined use. We don’t mass-market it,” Siegel said.

– A digital newspaper, to be called The Daily, was scheduled to be launched next Wednesday, but this date has been delayed. News Corp. and Apple are working together to produce the news publication exclusively for iPads, but there are some bugs in the subscription platform used to ‘deliver’ the paper that have to be fixed before the newspaper can be published. Both parties have agreed that more time is needed to test the subscription service for the newspaper.

Apple Chief Executive Steve Jobs and News Corp. Chairman Rupert Murdoch were supposed to unveil the application at the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art. The launch is now rumored to be weeks, not months, away.

An unnamed person familiar with the project said, “The app and the service work, it’s just getting them to talk to each other that needs more time.”

Apple has been developing a similar ‘subscription’ service for a periodical in its iTunes store. Customers will be able to get the publication delivered automatically to their iPad each time a new issue is released.

– NTT DoCoMo, Japan’s leading carrier and mobile operator, is working with LG Electronics of South Korea to create and launch a tablet computer similar to Apple’s iPad. DoCoMo plans to do this by combining the Android operating system (backed by Google) with a device manufactured by LG Electronics.The new product will run Google software, as Google plans to release a tablet-friendly operating system world wide early this year.

The new tablet is slated for release in Japan by the end of March, 2011. Internet access via the mini computer will be possible using DoCoMo’s cellular connections. Pricing and other details have not yet been established.

DoCoMo is short for Do Communication Over the Mobile Network, and also from a compound word, dokomo, meaning ‘everywhere’ in Japanese. The company provides phone, video phone, and i-mode (internet) services. It was spun-off NTT (Nippon Telegraph and Telephone) in 1991 to take over the company’s mobile cellular operations.

– The Federal Transit Administration has granted over $16.5 million to two projects to research, develop and build fuel cell technology for buses. Calstart, in Pasadena, CA, has been awarded $10.2 million, and The Center for Transportation and the Environment in Atlanta, GA will receive $6.4 million in funds. Fuel cell buses typically use hydrogen as a power source to power electrically driven wheels. Some models are augmented with batteries or supercapacitors, making them hybrids.

Calstart will spend approximately 70% of its money on the development of a low-cost and longer lasting fuel cell power system. It will then take the remaining $2.9 million and partner with the Chicago Regional Transit Authority to build and test the viability of fuel cell buses in cold climates.

The Center for Transportation and the Environment will divide its funding among six different projects, ranging from improving hybrid bus platforms that are already in existence, to developing fast-charging fuel cells for buses. It will also work on creating lithium ion run buses.